Avatar the Novel

In this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, there’s an interesting interview with director James Cameron whose 3-D blockbuster Avatar is returning to movie screens August 27 with an additional nine minutes of footage. When asked about the novelization that he’s writing, Cameron begged to differ. “I hate that term. A novelization is when the merchandising department hires a hack writer for $15,000 to adapt my script. This is the novel.”

While he’s telling the same story as the film, Cameron stressed that the novel is a different art form and medium. His book will delve deeper into his characters’ minds and explore the backstory of Grace (Sigorney Weaver’s character) and how she came to the planet Pandora as a young scientist. “It sets up all the seeds of what will happen over the greater story arc.” The 3-D film pioneer did not say whether he will publish his novel as an old-fashioned print book (a 3-D object in itself) or experiment with new 3-D ebook technology that could be a reality in a few years.